The road to recovery through Steemit?

The last couple of years, my energy level has been disappointingly low. This happened gradually, so I didn't really notice it. At some point, you might realise that you are tired and think it is temporary. "I only need a holiday and I'll be fine". But my battery just didn't recharge... like AT ALL. But I kept going anyway.

When I didn't have to go to work, more often did I decide to stay home instead of doing some random activity. Some days I would keep falling asleep on the couch. Other days I was proud that I did both my laundry and my dishes. I became more and more passive and just didn't have anything that excited me enough to get my ass moving. Over time, work became a struggle too. More and more did I check my watch to see when it was time to leave and go home.

Although it is comfortable to stay in your own home, it just isn't healthy. And also: it won't pay my bills. But with the lack of energy, I didn't know what to do. I crossed my fingers for winning the lottery, but that didn't happen. I needed some passive income so that I could take my time to recover without too much stress.

And then I discovered Steemit.

I did have enough stories to tell and I had a massive archive of photos that I took during my trips. A decade ago, I used to blog in Dutch, but how hard would it be to do that in English? Practise makes perfect and I could do it from the couch. "Let's do it!"

After a couple of months, I started running out of photos and stories...

My passiveness didn't really help me have new experiences to write about. I came up with an achievable activity in my own neighbourhood that turned into my Amsterdam Then and Now series. Those stories were a lot of work and the weather didn't really help (I will bring it back, promised). I didn't travel anymore and was too indifferent to even care about that.

I ran into some games on Steemit that I liked a lot.

I became more and more "active" in the @photogames group but thought I couldn't compete with the professional photographers over there (competitive much?). I gave the edits a try and rediscovered my love for Photoshop after not having touched it for nearly 15 years. I spend way too much time on those edits, but only because I suddenly had loads of energy as soon as I was inside my creative bubble.

So yeah, I saw a glimpse of that internal fire in myself that I remember is capable of burning so intensely. I concluded that the key to recovery was likely through creativity and photography. And it actually made sense when I realised that photography is often the only reason that makes me leave my hotel when on holidays. Could it trigger me enough to leave my couch? Why not get a proper camera and try to learn from these guys/girls?

So I bought a camera.

A month later, I also had an Adobe Creative Cloud photography account, a tripod, multiple lenses and a list of locations that I wanted to check out. Once or twice a week, I found myself energised enough to do some sightseeing in nature (because healthy). I would use SnappCar (The AirBnb for cars) to get to those places. After a few times, I decided to make it easier for myself...

I got myself a tiny car.

And you know how it goes. You get a new car and all you want to do is drive it! I just HAD to go! The first thing I did was start the engine and drive around the block to park it again and go back to my couch. Because there was no clear goal. But also because my camera was still on my couch.